Why SILICON material is mostly preferred for manufacturing POWER ELECTRONICS COMPONENTS??

• First we will see what is power electronics?

➝ " Power Electronics is the branch of electronics that deals with controls and conversion of large power"

➝In power electronics special power electronics components like IGBT (INSULATED GATE BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTOR), SCR ( SILICON CONTROLLED RECTIFIER), GTO (GATE TURN OFF THYRISTOR), MOSFET( METAL OXIDE SEMICONDUCTOR FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR), ETC. Are used for various purposes like VARIABLE FREQUENCY DRIVE (VFD), AUTOMATIC VOLTAGE CONTROLLED (AVC), AUTOMATIC SPEED CONTROL OF INDUCTION MACHINES, etc.

• ADVANTAGES OF POWER ELECTRONICS:-

⇨It has high efficiency.

⇨Reliable and flexible operations.

⇨It is possible to make fully automatic system.

⇨Less maintenance is required.

• DISADVANTAGES OF POWER ELECTRONICS:-

⇨Power Electronics devices produced harmonics in the system and due to harmonics disturbance are produced in the system.

⇨Power Electronics devices are costly.

❇️WHY SILICON MATERIAL IS MOSTLY PREFERRED FOR MAKING POWER ELECTRONICS COMPONENTS?

• SOME IMPORTANT POINTS:-

1. Band :- Band is defined as the collection of energy.
2. Conduction Band:-  It is the band which is partially filled with electrons or empty.
3. Valance Band :- It is the band which is fully filled with free electrons at 0° absolute temperature.
4. Energy Gap : It shows amount of energy which is required to moves free electrons from valance Band to conduction band.
5. Conductivity :- Conductivity is the ability of the material to pass charge or free electrons through it.

• Energy gap diagram of GERMANIUM and SILICON material;

Fig(a) ENERGY GAP OF GERMANIUM AND SILICON.

                            Eg = 1/ σ ...................(1)

 Where :- 

                  Eg = Energy gap 

                   σ  =  Conductivity of material

 

       From figure ;

             σGe = 1/.73

                      = 1.369 ................(2)

               σSi =  1/ 1.1

                      = .909 .................(3)

So we know that 

                             σGe > σSi

From this calculation we understand that conductivity of GERMANIUM IS GREATER THAN the conductivity of SILICON.

✲BUT DUE TO THE FOLLOWING REASONS SILICON MATERIAL IS MOSTLY PREFERRED:- 

Fig (b) COMPARISON BETWEEN GERMANIUM AND SILICON

• After studying this above TABLE we conclude that SILICON MATERIAL IS MOSTLY PREFERRED FOR MAKING POWER ELECTRONICS COMPONENTS.

       ...............Thank you 🙂👍...............